Ecology of Shallow Lakes brings together current understanding
of the mechanisms that drive the diametrically opposite states of
water clarity, shown by the cover paintings, found in many shallow
lakes and ponds. It gives an outline of the knowledge gained from
field observations, experimental work, and restoration studies,
linked by a solid theoretical framework.
The book focuses on shallow lakes, but the lucid treatment of
plankton dynamics, resuspension, light climate and the role of
vegetation is relevant to a much wider range of aquatic systems.
The models that are used remain simple and most analyses are
graphical rather than algebraic. The text will therefore appeal to
students, scientists and policy makers in the field of ecology,
fisheries, pollution studies and water management, and also to
theoreticans who will benefit from the many real-world examples of
topics such as predation and competition theory, bifurcation
analysis and catastrophe theory. Perhaps most importantly, the book
is a remarkable example of how large field experiments and simple
models can catalyze our insight into complex ecosystems.
Marten Scheffer wrote this book while at the Institute of Inland
Water Management and Waste Treatment, RIZA, Lelystad, The
Netherlands. He is currently at the Department of Water Quality
Management and Aquatic Ecology of the Wageningen Agricultural
University.
Reviews
Much rarer are textbooks that so succinctly sum up the
state-of-the-art knowledge about a subject that they become instant
bibles'. This book is one of these. It is probably one of the best
biological textbooks I have read. Scheffer masterfully pulls all
this information together under one cover and presents a coherent
account, which will serve as a benchmark for the subject. The
reader will not gain any great insight into the breeding biology of
pike from this book, nor learn much about dragonflies or newts.
They will, however, come to understand the essential nature of
shallow lakes or, as the author puts it, how shallow lakes work'.
Overall, this book will be of great interest to practical and
theoretical ecologists, students and managers in all fields of
biology. All freshwater ecologists should certainly read it.'
Simon Harrison in Journal of Ecology, 86
The book by Scheffer can be seen as a milestone in the recognition
of shallow lakes as a research topic in its own right. Scheffer
uses three approaches concurrently to unravel the functioning of
shallow lakes: 1) statistical analysis of large datasets from a
variety of lakes; 2) simple abstract models made up of a few
non-linear ordinary differential equations, which he calls
mini-models'; and 3) logical reasoning based on a mixture of
results from fieldwork, experiments and models. What is new is that
Scheffer links mathematics very nicely with what one feels is a
correct description of the functioning of a shallow lake. Employing
logical reasoning, Scheffer combines all these sources of knowledge
into a general, coherent picture of the functioning of a shallow
lake.'
Wolf Mooij in Aquatic Ecology, 32
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